FATEMEH KESHAVARZ, Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (University of South Carolina Press, 1998). Pp. 194. $29.95 cloth

Keshavarz's discussion of paradox in medieval Persian poetry (esp. pp. 32-36) is engaging and provides a reasonable basis for further research, while her use of modern literary theory and substantial reference to Beckett (pp. 11, 56, 64-65, 71), Wittgenstein (pp. 50-51), Kierkegaard (pp. 54, 61-64), and Heidegger (pp. 22-26) suggest an attempt to package Rumi for the 21st century. Keshavarz's continual reference to the inherent "playfulness" (e.g., pp. 17, 82, 99, 118) and essential childlike quality (e.g., pp. 118, 133, 134) of many of Rumi's poems may grate on many readers, but it highlights an important point--namely, that in search of the mystical depth in the poems of the Divan-i Shams, many scholars have overlooked the fun element of the genre.